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The Far Ends of Time and Earth
1979 Doubleday and Co. Volume 1. The Collected Fiction of Isaac Asimov. Hardcover with dust jacket. Book Club Edition.
526 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,367 books28.2k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 18, 2023
Both "Pebble in the Sky" and the short story collection are good. But, man "End of Eternity" is absolutely amazing. The idea of a group of people manipulating reality. The very real human need for connection and pettiness. So beautifully done and so very profound.
November 20, 2025
This was a collection comprised of two novels and one short story collection of vaguely time and space travel related stories, and I’ve got slightly different thoughts on all of them. So:
A Pebble in the Sky: Fascinating premise, interesting fictional universe, interesting characters, and so on. My one issue is that it is technically very well done and does all tie together in the end, but I had a difficult time investing in the characters, so it didn’t quite have the heft I think an ending needs to have even though there are some very good bits along the way. But I was also in a weird mood when I read it, so I can’t hold that against it too much.
Earth is Room Enough: This is a fantastic collection of short stories. Highlights for me included “The Dead Past,” (which gives one of its characters the most harrowing reason to not want to revisit past I’ve seen in a while), “Someday,” “Dreaming is a Private Thing,” and “Jokester,” but I didn’t dislike any of them. They remind me a bit of Bradbury, but where many of Bradbury’s short stories function as explorations/answers to a question, many of the stories in this collection function a little like jokes, with a setup and a (sometimes darkly funny) punchline. Or the shortest ones do, at least.
The End of Eternity: I actually wanted to dislike this one once I realized what Harlan’s motivation was going to be, but you know what? It’s great. Weirdly compelling. Love the weird makeup of the society of Eternity. Harlan is a well-composed neurotic mess, which makes him fun. I even ended up liking Noÿs’s role and the place the book ended up going. Actually a fantastic story. Highly recommend.
Overall this was a great introduction to Asimov, having never read any of his work before. I’ve got a few niggles with him (nothing in his work yet has quite convinced me that he can imagine the interior lives of women as well as he can neural whips or spaces outside of time, but that was a common failing of authors of the time) I can see why he’s considered one of the sci fi greats. He makes for some enjoyable reading.
A Pebble in the Sky: Fascinating premise, interesting fictional universe, interesting characters, and so on. My one issue is that it is technically very well done and does all tie together in the end, but I had a difficult time investing in the characters, so it didn’t quite have the heft I think an ending needs to have even though there are some very good bits along the way. But I was also in a weird mood when I read it, so I can’t hold that against it too much.
Earth is Room Enough: This is a fantastic collection of short stories. Highlights for me included “The Dead Past,” (which gives one of its characters the most harrowing reason to not want to revisit past I’ve seen in a while), “Someday,” “Dreaming is a Private Thing,” and “Jokester,” but I didn’t dislike any of them. They remind me a bit of Bradbury, but where many of Bradbury’s short stories function as explorations/answers to a question, many of the stories in this collection function a little like jokes, with a setup and a (sometimes darkly funny) punchline. Or the shortest ones do, at least.
The End of Eternity: I actually wanted to dislike this one once I realized what Harlan’s motivation was going to be, but you know what? It’s great. Weirdly compelling. Love the weird makeup of the society of Eternity. Harlan is a well-composed neurotic mess, which makes him fun. I even ended up liking Noÿs’s role and the place the book ended up going. Actually a fantastic story. Highly recommend.
Overall this was a great introduction to Asimov, having never read any of his work before. I’ve got a few niggles with him (nothing in his work yet has quite convinced me that he can imagine the interior lives of women as well as he can neural whips or spaces outside of time, but that was a common failing of authors of the time) I can see why he’s considered one of the sci fi greats. He makes for some enjoyable reading.
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September 9, 2024I love Asimov but also hate him so much. what's with him and women. excellent example of how some writers can be so ingenious yet incapable of imagining outside their own gendered understanding. this book in particular was all early work, and it's interesting to see how he develops in all except how lame all his characters are.
August 9, 2024
If you've read Asimov, you can understand my rating. In my opinion, one of the greats of sci-fi. This is volume 1. No idea if there are other volumes (?) Mostly all short stories except for the two novels that are included. I've read this at least once before. Like some other classic sci-fi, it doesn't get old.
April 8, 2018
I found this in the library and am glad I did. The two longer stories are the most memorable.
March 15, 2011
The short story section shows Asimov in fine form. I also didn't know he had such a pleasantly religious edge, in addition to some amusing undertones. (For instance, shown in the story where someone chided a professor for having flunked William Shakespeare--traveled through time--out of a course on Shakespeare.) I stand in awe of the concluding book, "The End of Eternity." While some of the plot proves pivotal to the later development of the Foundation series (525), this really broadens the scope of what was already immense. One of the better explanations for time paradoxes (491) is only a small part of a riveting story spanning time and a portion of eternity, with a love story thrown in, to boot!
In discussing what had gone wrong in producing such a low probability universe (and I love how he, 401, mentions that women were 10-100 times more likely than men to introduce serious alterations to the course of history), he teaches a valuable lesson: "Each world would have . . . a chance to seek happiness after ways of its own in an environment of its own. . . . That is the Basic State of mankind. . . . We found . . . the Change that had destroyed Basic State. . . . Any system . . . which allows men to choose their own future [that is, a few tampering with the outcomes of the many], will end by choosing safety and mediocrity, and in such a Reality the stars are out of reach" (522-523).
In discussing what had gone wrong in producing such a low probability universe (and I love how he, 401, mentions that women were 10-100 times more likely than men to introduce serious alterations to the course of history), he teaches a valuable lesson: "Each world would have . . . a chance to seek happiness after ways of its own in an environment of its own. . . . That is the Basic State of mankind. . . . We found . . . the Change that had destroyed Basic State. . . . Any system . . . which allows men to choose their own future [that is, a few tampering with the outcomes of the many], will end by choosing safety and mediocrity, and in such a Reality the stars are out of reach" (522-523).
September 15, 2016
Man....these Asimov collections are getting goofy.
Earth is Room Enough (is unrelated to)
The Pebble in the Sky (which is unrelated to)
The End of Eternity.
Great books regardless.
Earth is Room Enough (is unrelated to)
The Pebble in the Sky (which is unrelated to)
The End of Eternity.
Great books regardless.
December 25, 2008
I read most of this - see reviews of The End of Eternity and Pebble in the Sky. The short stories were okay, but I didn't read all of them. I figured it would be a better use of time to read some of his other novels instead.
June 16, 2009
Asimov told some good stories but was never my favorite SF writer.
December 19, 2016
Not a big fan of short story collections, but I thought at least some of them would grab me, but no. Some were okay, but none great.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews